Lake Naivasha Experience and Lessons Learned Brief Robert Becht*, International Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, the Netherlands,
[email protected] Eric O. Odada, Department of Geology, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya Sarah Higgins, Lake Naivasha Riparian Association, Naivasha, Kenya * Corresponding author 1. Introduction the Colonial Government was reluctant to approve water abstraction permits. Lake Naivasha (Figure 1) is a shallow basin lake, situated 80 km northwest of Nairobi in the Kenyan Rift Valley. The recent In 1929, the Naivasha landowners organized themselves into developments around the lake constitute an interesting case the Lake Naivasha Riparian Owners Association (LNROA). for natural resource management that is discussed in this The land below the arbitrary chosen lake level of 6,210 ft asl brief. (1,892.8 m asl) was put into the custody of the landowners in 1933, under the LNROA, although no permanent structures The lake contains freshwater supporting a rich ecosystem, were allowed to be built on this land. This proved to be a with hundreds of bird species, papyrus fringes fi lled with wise move, since it has protected the riparian/shore line from hippos, riparian grass lands where waterbuck, giraffe, zebra degradation. In the late 1950s, when the lake water levels and various antelopes graze, dense patches of riparian acacia started to rise, after a couple of decades of falling levels, the forest with buffaloes, bushbuck and other creatures, beautiful Administration began designing complex diversion schemes: swampy areas where waterfowl breed and feed and, at the Water was to be transferred to Lake Elmenteita (also commonly same time, magnifi cent views of the nearby volcanoes.